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Fistball in New Zealand
In September 2016, NZFA President, Blase Dowall, formed a club and had it ratified by the International Fistball Association. What started off as a group of friends and colleagues having a friendly hit around, quickly turned into a plan to take on the Aussies in the very first Trans-Tasman Fistball Championship over Waitangi weekend in February 2017. Following a win for the NZ national women's team and a series of close games for NZ's men's team, the teams returned with the hope of continuing to grow the sport across the country. The debut season of the Canterbury Fistball League kicked off in June of 2017 as the first of what will hopefully be many regional fistball leagues throughout New Zealand. 2018 holds some great opportunities for fistball in New Zealand, with Australia coming over in January to fight it out for the Pavlova Plate. This second annual Trans-Tasman Fistball Championship will be happening in Christchurch over the weekend of 26th-28th January 2018. In July of 2018 the 2018 Fistball Women's World Championships will take place in Austria with New Zealand looking to send a team of women to play amongst the world's best fisters. |